Better Knot Ensembles
PERFORMANCE
About the Better Knot Ensembles
Featuring Chad MacCluskey on guitar and Khara Wolf on flute, whistle, oboe and English horn, this high energy, Neo-Traditional Celtic Duo started exploring music from all over the world in early 2014. Enriched by their distinctive backgrounds in jazz, world, and classical music, their unique sound has captivated audiences throughout the Four Corners region.
The Better Knot Ensembles played in the 2014 and 2015 Durango Celtic Festival and will often invite additional guests from around the region on fiddle or percussion for a trio or 4-piece band.
Meet The Band Members
Khara Wolf | Irish Flute, Silver Flute, Penny Whistle, Oboe, English Horn
Khara Wolf fell in love with music when she was first inspired by the magic of live performance and the power of music education. She is currently the Adjunct Instructor of Music-Double Reeds at Fort Lewis College, and maintains a private teaching studio in the Four Corners.
Ms. Wolf graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance on oboe where she studied with Peter Cooper. She attended the Boxwood Festival & Workshop from 2009-2013 where she studied Celtic music on both flute and oboe with Chris Norman, David Greenberg, Shelley Phillips, and Rodney Garnett.
Chad MacCluskey | Guitar
Chad MacCluskey is quite the renaissance figure who gravitated towards music at an early age. He not only has performed countless times, strumming a broken tennis racquet on his mother’s living room floor, to an audience of G.I. Joe dolls, but also to human audiences in Africa, Australia, and Indonesia. Mr. MacCluskey has a Bachelors in Neuroscience, a teaching degree, a Masters in Elementary Education/ Information Technologies, and many endorsements in Special Education. His latest three-year endeavor was in becoming a Certified Academic Language Therapist. Mr. MacCluskey has been in public education for over eleven years. He has also started his seventh year coaching middle school Cross Country running. Lastly, he has a passion of performing on guitars with seven strings in unconventional tunings.
Erick Morningstar | Bodhran
Erick is Durango’s most sought after Bodhran player. Before joining Better Knot in 2014, he played with the former Irish band Gypsy Dance for many years. He has been playing Bodhran with Patrick Crossing since 2009 and continues to perform with them extensively. Seen occasionally crossing instrumentation with the congas and other beats, Erick has a passion for music that echoes his in sets.
